Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Portrait of Dorian Gray: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (Reader's Choice Edition) by Oscar Wilde

188 reviews

feyx's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The first half of the book was a little bit boring. My main thought was Please make Lord Henry shut up but the second half really got me. Absolutely loved the ending

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Suicide, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Addiction

missmarguerita's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Utterly terrifying, fabulous ending. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and Classism

hdkroon's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

everyone is terrible, chapter 11 almost killed me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Antisemitism, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

tayaingrid's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Antisemitism, Murder, and Toxic friendship

katie0528's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is such a famous classic I wanted to read it. For me, I think it being so iconic was it's downfall. The premise is exactly what everyone already knows. That is actually very little of the plot, with the rest of the book containing of Dorian Gray's friend and initial corruptor philosophizing about his personal cynical brand of hedonism that causes and conrinaully exacerbates Dorian's fall. However, it gets quite exhausting, especially since everyone is quite horrible.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Drug use

roonilxwaslib's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship

Moderate: Murder

willow_the_wisp's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, and Classism

eurus96's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Infidelity, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Classism

pinetree_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Murder, and Toxic friendship

evemlacey's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Picture of Dorian Gray was a wonderful read- and luckily, I went into it free of spoilers. I was rather satisfied with the ending. I felt as if it could've been slightly more dramatic but otherwise, I found it a logical yet poetic finish to the book.

If I could describe this book in three words, I would say eerie, meaningful, and poetic. Reading this made me realise once again what an incredible writer Oscar Wilde was. I've seen a few negative reviews from the book, but I genuinely enjoyed it.

I think a lot of people assume that Dorian Gray sells his soul to Lucifer, which is not true. I was a little confused at first but essentially, he just makes a wish to stay youthful and the portrait to instead reflect his age. It is unexplained how that works- but I like when the reader has to analyse and come to a conclusion by themself.

Overall, I would wholeheartedly recommend this book. It's a must-read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship